The Judgment Day faction has undergone several changes since its inception, as it was initially led by Edge, who recruited Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley. Edge, on the other hand, wanted out of the group after learning that Vince McMahon planned to make it a supernatural faction. In the storylines, Edge was kicked out of the group after WWE turned Finn Balor heel.
During an interview with BT Sport, the faction’s leader discussed the heel turn in 2022 with Vince McMahon, who was still in charge of creative at the time.
“I’ve actually never watched this back at all. This was such a weird night because I remember it was like 7:55 PM, and we’re going live at eight o’clock. I knock on Vince McMahon’s office, and I go there, and I say, ‘Sir, have you got a minute?’ He looks up from his papers, and he goes, ‘Is it about tonight?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s about tonight. It’s about the heel turn.’ He goes, ‘Oh, come in.’
Balor continued, “I just wanted some direction as to, ‘Hey, am I going out there in the suit? In The Judgment Day colors, or am I going out as Finn? Am I going out to music? What way are we doing it?’ He said, ‘Oh, you just go out as Finn and then do the segment.’ I said, ‘Well, oh, okay. That’s cool’.
“There wasn’t really much thought or plan that went into it, but it definitely made an impact. I feel like this is the version of Finn I wanted to do in NXT, and we couldn’t do it because the crowd had been too attached to me from the previous run, and then the crowd got completely taken out of it (due to to COVID-19 pandemic). There was no chance to even be a heel, to get a heel reaction. This is kind of what I went back to NXT to do and three years later, I got to do it properly,” Balor stated.
You can watch the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
